Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 27

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126

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SCHUYLER COUNTY

УТИЈОЈ ЯЗУИНОГ

استريمن ية

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Toward J. Dyson.

6/7

HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY

CHAPTER I.

PERIOD OF EXPLORATION.

FIRST EXPLORATIONS IN ILLINOIS-THIE MISSION NOT ONE OF CONQUEST-LOUIS JOLIET, AND FATIIER JACQUES MARQUETTE FIRST TO VISIT THE ILLINOIS . COUNTRY IN . 1673-THE ILLINOIS RIVER FOUND TO BE THE INDIAN'S ELYSIUM - MILITARY OCCUPATION MADE BY LA SALLE, TONTI AND FATHER HENNEPIN AT FORT CREVE COEUR IN 1680-LAPSE OF MORE THAN A CENTURY BEFORE SETTLEMENTS WERE MADE IN SCHUYLER COUNTY.

In the days when tradition and history dimly merge, and the rich and fertile plains and wooded hills of the Illinois Country were in the undis- puted possession of the primitive savage, plans were made and policies outlined to bring the vast dominion lying westward of Lake Michigan within the bounds of Christian civilization.

As it was with the Pilgrims, who sought a haven of retreat and homes on the stern and forbidding coast of the North Atlaatie country, the men who first explored the trackless wilds of the unknown West were, actuated by a re- ligious fervor and enthusiasm which has no par- allel in the history of the world. Their mis- sion was not one of conquest, nor were they seeking to escape from the tyranny of an op- pressive government : but with loyalty to their king and to the glory of their God. they entered the primeval wilderness of the unknown West, and undertook to teach the savage inhabitants the refinements of civilized life.

History affords no more romantic chapter than that of the exploration and development of the great State of Illinois. It was here that the

first explorations were made that opened the vast northwest country to civilization, and the period of transition from a native wilderness to a condition of high culture, both in its material features and in the mental and moral character- istics of its inhabitants, is of absorbing interest, not alone to the student of history, but to the people who now, in peace and contentment. live within the bounds of this imperial State.

To Louis Joliet and Father Jaegnes Marquette belong the honor and ever enduring fame of bringing within the pale of civilization the un- tutored savages of Illinois. Starting from their headquarters on the shores of Lake Ontario, on May 17, 1673, the intrepid explorer and zealous priest, with five voyageurs in two canoes, skirted the shore of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, thence down the Fox River and by portage to the Mis- sissippi. "There were warriors," they were told, "on the banks of the Great River, who wouldl cut off their heads without the least cause ; monsters who would swallow them, canoes and all; and one huge winged demon who shut the way, and burned in the waters that boiled about him. all who dared draw nigh." This winged "demon" was doubtless an allusion to the monster Bird of Piasa, of which there is said to have been a coarse Indian picture painted on the limestone bluff above the present city of Alton, and in whose former existence and terrible ferocity the Indian tribes of the western prairies implicitly believed. Marquette says in his narrative of this remarkable voyage: "I thanked these fearful friends for their good advice, but told them 1 could not follow it, since the salvation of souls was at stake. for which I should be overjoyed to give my life."

Upon the 17th of July, the party had de- scended the river to the vicinity of the Arkansas, when. owing to the increasing perils of the voy- age. they reluctantly started upon their return. They retraced their course weain't the swift cur- rent of the Mississippi to the mouth of the Illi-

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nois with almost incredible labor. It was in the month of August that the little band of adventurers made their journey up the Illinois River, where, for untold centuries, no sound save Nature's multitudinous voices had broken the vast solitude. Ilere, as in other places he had visited. the pious Father forgot not the holy* object of his long and dangerous voyage. Ile prayed and talked with the curious and kind- hearted savages, and, when leaving, bestowed upon them his blessing and the last of the con- secrated silver crosses, with which he had been careful to provide himself when setting out on his missionary journey from Canada.

In the voyage up the Illinois River, Joliet and Marquette skirted the boundary of what is now Schuyler County, and doubtless built their eamp- fires on the bank of the river in some of the sheltered coves that there abound. In Davidson & Stuve's History of Illinois, we find the follow- ing graphic description of the scene that opened to their view as they continued up the river :

"Prairie spread out before them beyond the reach of vision, covered with tall grass, which undulated in the wind like waves of the sea. In further imitation of a watery expanse, the sur- face was studded with clumps of timber, resem- bling islands. in whose graceful outlines could be traced peninsulas, shores and headlands. Flow- ers, surpassing in the delleaey of their tints the pampered products of civilization, were pro- fusely sprinkled over the grassy landscape, and gave their wealth of fragrance to the passing breeze. Immense herds of buffalo and deer grazed on these rich pastures, so prolific that the continued destruction of them for ages by the Indians had failed to diminish their numbers. For the further support of human life, the river swarmed with fish. great quantities of wild fruit grew in the forest and prairies, and so numerous were water-fowl and other birds, that the heav- ens were frequently obscured by their flight. This favorite land, with its profusion of vegetable and animal life, was the ideal of the Indian's Elysium. The explorers spoke of it as a terres- trial paradise, in which earth, air and water, unbidden by labor, contributed the most copious supplies for the sustenance of life. In the early French explorations, desertions were of frequent orcurrence, and is it strange that men, wearied by the toils and restraints of civilized life, should abandon their leaders for the abundance and wild independence of these prairies and woodlands?"

In 1679 Illinois was again visited by explorers, who had heard of the marvelous country rich iu game and furs and who were eager to establish trade relations with the Indians. La Salle, Touti and Father Hennepin were members of this sec- ond exploring party which, early in January, 1680, made the first military occupation of Illi- nois at Fort Creve Coeur, near where Peoria now stands, and where, five years earlier, Father Marquette had preached of Christ and the Virgin. Although this did not result in the establish- ment of a completed and permanent fortification, it has passed into history as the first attempt on the part of La Salle to establish military juris- diction within what now constitutes the State of Illinois, under the charter granted to him by Louis XIV. in 1678.

With the establishment at a later period of missions at Kaskaskia and Cahokia to the south, and Fort Creve Coeur to the north, the placid. yet majestic, Illinois was frequently traversed by explorers, adventurers and priests; and yet it was more than a century after the first military occupation that permanent settlements were made in Schuyler County, along whose eastern boundary the Illinois River extends for more than twenty-five miles, the open gateway to the inviting and fertile plains that lie beyond. And so it happens that the early history of Schuyler County is coincident with that of the first explo- ration of Illinois, even though there is no direct connection to link the names of those hardy voyageurs with the story of our times.

CHAPTER II.

ABORIGINAL OCCUPANTS.

INDIAN TRIBES IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY-CILAR- AUTERISTICS AND TRIBAL RELATIONS-AMILAEO- LOGICAL CONDITIONS AS DESCRIBED BY DR. J. F. SNYDER-THE SOUND BUILDERS-INDIAN RELICS FOUND ALONG THE ILLINOIS RIVER-TRIBES COM- POSING TIIL ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY-KINDLY GREETING EXTENDED TO JOLIET AND MARQUETTE -ILLINOIS AS A BATTLE GROUND IN THE WAR OF 1812-REGION BETWEEN THE ILLINOIS AND MIS-

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

SISSIPPI INVADED BY ILLINOIS AND MISSOURI RANGERS - KICKAPOO INDIANS IN POSSESSION WHEN FIRST SETTLERS CAME TO SCHUYLER COUNTY-THEIR FRIENDLY ATTITUDE TO THE NEW COMERS -- REV. CHAUNCEY HOBART'S DESCRIPTION OF AN INDIAN VISIT-IHIS STORY OF BE-KIK-A- NIN-EE-INDIAN VILLAGE ON THE SITE OF THE PRESENT CITY OF RUSHVILLE-THE INDIANS' FAREWELL JOURNEY TO THE NORTH IN 1826.

Barely more than four-seore years have passed since the last of the Indian tribes left Schuyler County to take up their home on the west bank of the Mississippi River; and yet. when one attempts to trace their history, or write of the period during which they occupied the country, he finds but little to guide him in the task. The history of the Indian tribes in Illinois delves in mists and shadow, and but little of the ancient traditions of the tribes has been preserved. The early settlers, in their contact with the Indians, did not busy themselves with a study of racial conditions, but expended their best efforts in the attempt to wrest from the untutored savage the lands over which he had held undisputed sway for many generations.

When at last the council fires of the Indians had been extinguished, and they had been forced to eross the Mississippi and find a home in Iowa, they left no enduring monuments of their long occupancy of the country, and, save for the low mounds above the dead warriors and the faint trace of their narrow trails, there is noth- ing one can point to as a reminder of the race that was the immediate predecessor of the hardy pioneers who made for themselves a home in the wilderness.

As a raee, the Indians of Illinois were always counted as the peer of savage tribes, and they made a stubborn resistance against the eneroach- ment of the settlers. From a soeinl standpoint. however, there is little in them to connend. Keen cunning held vantage over intellectual or moral force, and they evolved no governmental system that extended beyond tribal relations. They erected no enduring structures, as did the Aztecs of Mexico, and in, their implements of peace and warfare little inventive genius was shown. There is no trace of literature or art in all their tradition and history, and their passing has been likened to that of the early beasts and birds of the fieldl that once were here but now are gone. Under the natural conditions of prog-

ress race yielded to race, and the Indians of Illinois are now remembered as a people whose sachems had no cities, whose religion had no temple, whose government had no records. In the battle for supremacy their country was ap- propriated, their hunting grounds destroyed and their trails obliterated to make way for the marvelous development that began with the be- ginning of the nineteenth century.

In a paper read before the Illinois Historical Society at its first meeting at Peoria, January 5-6, 1900, Dr. J. F. Snyder, of Virginia, 111., dis- cussed the archeological conditions of Illinois, and brought out many interesting facts concern- ing the prehistoric people who preceded the In- dians in Illinois. We find that in his research Dr. Suyder has discovered remains of the race in this country, and quote from his paper as follows :

"The valley of the Illinois River, from its prai- rie banks about Starved Rock to the Mississippi, was at a very early date in possession of a yet different branch of the native American race, whose mode of mound building and manner of disposing of their dead, plainly connect them with the mound building tribes of Ohio. Here we meet with the so-called 'altar' mounds, usu- ally on low alluvial bottoms, and the platform' pipes and finely-wrought implements and orna- ments of copper. lIere also have been found those extraordinary propitiatory offerings to their evil or guardian spirits. It has been the fortune of the writer, in his limited explorations in this territory. to discover astonishing deposits of dark colored. or black, flint-disks, each from three to eight inches in diameter, under condi- tions that leave no doubt of their sacrificial intent. At the base of a mound on Paint Creek in Ross County. Ohio. a deposit of similar flints was unearthed in 1847. by Messrs, Squier and Davis, and subsequently on further search by Prof. W. K. Moorehead, which aggregated S. 155 in number. Buried in the banks of the Illinois River at Beardstown were found 1.500 well rin- ished disks of baek hornstone, closely laid to- wether a few feet below the surface. A deposit of 3,500 similar flints was sometime before un- covered four miles above on the opposite side of the river in Schuyler County. Two very large mounds, side by side, on the alluvial bot- toms in Brown County, were opened, and at the base of one were found 6,199 oval disks of glossy black flint, and at the bottom of the other

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

the enormous number of 5,516 completely fin- ished lance-shaped implements, from three to eight inches in length. of the same black flint. This stone is nowhere in situ in Illinois, but or- curs in southeastern Indiana and in portions of Kentucky. These buried flints. therefore, must have been transported by canoe, down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for the special purpose of final interment on the banks of the latter stream. "If they were placed there as an offering.' says Mr. Squier, 'we can form some estimate, in view of the fact that they must have been brought from a great dis- tance and fashioned with great toil. of the de- votional fervor which induced the sacrifice, or the magnitude of the calamity which that sac- rifice was, perhaps. intended to avert. . . The Illinois River 'altar' mounds examined were certainly very old, but further investigation will be required to determine their relative age in comparison with that of other systems of mounds on the Mississippi and in other parts of the State. At the time of their erection their build- ers had not yet become adepts in the ceramic art. the few pottery vessels found, with the original deposits, being coarse, rude and without decora- tion. The human skeletons among the primal burials in these mounds exhibited anatomical characteristics of very low order. The builders of these mounds had low, retreating foreheads with enormous supraorbital ridges ; prognathous jaws; perforations of the humerus; elongated coccyx and platyenemism of the tibi. They were ape-like and hideous, but exceedingly skill- ful artisans."

When Joliet and Father Marquette first vis- ited Illinois in 1673, they found the country bor- dering on the Illinois River in possession of a confederacy of Indian tribes under the general name of Illinois or "Illini." Marquette describes them as composed of remarkably handsome Del. well mannered and kindly. The confederacy cou- sisted of five tribes: The Kaskaskias. Cahokias, Tamaroas, Peorias and Mitchigamis. Under a simple. but complete, fabric of Indian construc- tion, the power of these tribes extended over all the fertile territory from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River and to the Mississippi on the west.

These aboriginal Illinoisans greeted the first explorers kindly, and Joliet and Marquette were graciously received by the eniors of the tribes. They were passionately fond of grand assemblies and feasts, and the wily Frenchmen were quick

to take advantage of the proffered pipe of peace. Marquette's labor among the Indians and his holy devotion to lead them to the ways of Chris- tian civilization, is one of the brightest pages in the whole of American history; and, had his policy of peaceful conquest been followed by those who came after him, the annals of Illinois history would not record the many deeds of atro- cions cruelty and warfare that occurred within the succeeding century.

Passing over the period of internecine warfare of the Indian tribes and their frequent combats with explorers, we come to the period just pre- ceding the occupation and settlement of the Illi- nois Country, of which Schuyler County is a part. In the year 1813 the Pottawatomies and the Kickapoos occupied the central part of Illi- nois, and from their headquarters on Lake P'co- ria and the Sangamon River, they sent out ma- rauding parties to harass the frontier settlers. In the summer of that year an army of some 000 men was collected from the settlements of Illinois and Missouri to march against the war- ring Indians. Passing up the Mississippi River to Quincy, they struck out eastward and across the prairies to the Illinois, which was reached near the Spoon River. From there the march was vontinned to Lake Peoria, but the Indians had taken flight at the approach of so large a force and no battles were fought.

In the following year a large force was dis- patched up the Mississippi River as far as Rock Island, to dislodge the Indian and their English allies, who were taking advantage of the war between the two countries to excite the savage to war and rapine. The first expedition met with disaster. the Indians, under Chief Black Hawk, killing a number of the force and caus- ing them to retreat to St. Louis. A second ex- pedition under command of Major Zachary Tay- lor. afterwards President, made an assault on an Indian force at Rock Island and, after driving the Indians back, was defeated by the British. A fort built on the present site of Warsaw hy Capt. Zachary Taylor, in 1814, and named Fort Edwards, was assaulted by the Indians so vig- orously that the Americans evacuated and the fort was burned. The treaty of Ghent, Derem- ber 21. 1814, closed the war between the Ameri- cans and British, and there was peace among the Indians until Chief Black Hawk again started upon the war path in 1830. The invasion of the country between the Mississippi and Illinois Riv-

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

ers had been the primary cause of driving the Indians northward, and there is no record of any encounter with the aboriginals within the borders of Schuyler County.

When the first settlers came to Schuyler County in 1823 there were still roving bands of Indians to be seen, but they were peaceful and soon afterwards departed to the north never to return. These Indians were of the Kickapoo tribe, who had villages on the Spoon River, in Fulton County. and at Elkbart Grove, on the Sangamon River. They were more civilized. in- dustrions and clearly than the other tribes in Illinois, and their warriors were far famed for valor and bravery. For more than a century they had an implacable hatred of the whites and com- mitted many atrocities on the settlers in the southern part of the State, and were the last of the Indian tribes of Illinois to accept the treaty of peace. which. may it be said to their credit. they ever afterwards observed.

In his notes of "Travels in IHinois." published in 1823, Ferdinand Ernst wrote of the Kickapoo Indians sojourning at Edwardsville in July, 1820, where they met the plenipotentiaries of the United States, and by treaty renounced all rights and claims to lands in lilinois, ceding the same to the Government.

In describing the Kickapoos, Mr. Ernst says : "Their color is reddish brown; their faces irreg- ular. often horribly colored with bright red paint ; their hair is ent te a tuft upon the crown of the head and painted various colors. Very few are clothed. In summer woolen cloth, and in winter a buffalo skin. is their only covering. They seem to be very fond of adornments, wearing silver rings about the neck and arms. They likewise carrying a shield before the breast."

When the first little band of settlers in Schuy- ler County crossed the Illinois River in Febru- ary, 1823, and located on the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of Section Sixteen, in what is now Rushville Township. they were vis- ited the second day after their arrival by about one hundred Kickapoo Indians, who were returning from their southern winter hunt. Their regular camping ground was a mile to the south, and it was here they always stopped in their semi-annual migrations between the north and south.

Rev. Chauncey Hobari. a member of this first settlers' colony in Schuyler County, gives the following interesting account of the visit of the

Indians: "These Kickapoos gave us their idea of aristocratie rank by saying : 'A Pottawatomie lives on the river, rides in a canoe, and eats muskrats and mud turtles, while a Kickapoo lives on high lands, rides on horseback and cats venison.

"The Indians were very friendly with us from the first. They called my father "Postonie,' or Boston man; to distinguish him from the men from the South, whom they called 'Cheino-ko- mon,' or 'Long Knife' These people were around us more or less every day while they were in camp, and many of them were present and witnessed our exit from camp to cabin.

"During the illness of my mother our Indian friends were down from their village on their summer hunt and camped near our house and, of course, came to visit us. We had been greatly annoyed by the injury of our garden by deer. whose depredations were committed in the night. Knowing the skill of the Indians in detecting trails, my father took two of our Indian visitors to the garden and pointed out to them the dam- age done. The two men walked through the garden looking carefully at the tracks, consulted together a moment. and said: "There are two; one has gone north. the other cast, pointing in the different directions. Mounting their ponies. they rode away in the directions indicated and, in less than an hour, each bad returned with a deer.

"The day following the head of the clan. a sub- chief called Be-kik-a-nin-ce, came bringing a deer just killed. After selling ns one quarter, he carefully took out the tenderloin. and presented it to my father, saying : 'It for sick squaw.' He directed that it be should be well boiled and some of the soup made from it given to my mother. remarking in a plaintive way: Maybe she get well.' This Indian bad been in the British army and had been wounded in the bat- tle of the River Raisin. This accounts for his being able to speak English.

"The following fall. while my father was in the woods bee-hunting, and about three miles from home, he met our old friend Be-kik-a-nin-ee on horseback hunting deer. As soon as they came in sight of each other the Indian wheeled his pony and came dashing up rapidly, jumped off and salted, by extending both hands, and exclaiming : 'How-te-too! How-to-too" He then asked: 'Kerne-squaw, Nepoo? (Did your wife die?)

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLER COUNTY.

" "No,'" replied my father, she is nearly well.'

"""Yup! Yup! Yup" he shouted. 'Ve go see her;' and, mounting his pony, he laid whip for our house, which he reached on a quick run, When he saw my mother up and busy around the house, this manly fellow appeared as much pleased as if he were conscious of some rela- tionship between them."

We give place to this interesting account of the meeting between the first settlers in Schuyler and the Indians to show the cordial and peace- ful relations existing between them, and this continued up to the time the Indians left for the northwest some years later.

The site of the present city of Rushville, and the wooded country adjacent to the north, must have been a favorite camp ground for the In- dians; for, long after the country was settled, there were to be found many fine specimens of arrow-heads and stone axes along Town branch and MeKee branch. On the McKee farm we may yet see the trace of a cleared path through the woods, which is known as the old Indian trail.

In what is now the site of Rushville there was probably an Indian village or camp located he- tween West Washington and Lafayette Streets, on the east side of the Town branch. A monu- ment which marked this location was a gnarled and knotted oak tree, which stood on the south- west corner of the intersection of Jackson and Washington Streets. Here in after years were found scores of stone arrow-heads buried under the bark of the tree, where they had been im- planted by the young Indian warriors or chil- dren while at practice or at play.

As late as 1820 the Indians had their camp in Woodstock Township, but with the coming of the settlers they moved northward and westward to the frontier. Old settlers in this region tell of their dramatic exit from the land which had long been their favorite bunting ground. For days before the northern march was begun. the In- dians enjoyed a season of feasting and pleasure. Their dances continued through the long hours of the night and. as the settlers looked out from their cabin doors on the wooded knolls at day- break, they saw the Indians mount their ponios, and ride away through the valley, closely fol- lowed by the squaws with the tents and camp equipage, never more to return to the beautiful valleys and plains of Western Illinois,

CHAPTER III.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 27

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126